IN BRIEF. Worth reading.

Stories That Stick In Your Mind

August 25, 1999|By Cassandra West. Compiled by Cassandra West.

Who I Was Supposed to Be

Susan Perabo

Simon & Schuster, 192 pages, $20

The cover photo clues us in that a certain bit of quirkiness lurks within these pages. In fiction, as in life, anything is possible, and Perabo's stories make that as clear as crystal. She cleverly mixes the ordinary and odd, and the result is a stunning collection of short gems, revealing a world both foreign and familiar. The title story tells how a young boy reinvents himself after his father is beaten by a group of crooked co-workers at a company picnic. In "The Measure of Devotion," a happily married man, working as a tour guide for the Gettysburg memorial, is forced to remember a former girlfriend when her overbearing mother shows up for a tour. The surprising "Retirement" tells of Batman's demise, from his butler Alfred's perspective.